Friday: Hili dialogue

August 25, 2017 • 6:30 am

Is it Friday already? Indeed it is: Friday, August 25, 2017. And YES, it’s National Banana Split Day. It’s been years since I’ve had one of these, and that’s ineffably sad. But wait—there’s more! It’s also National Whiskey Sour Day as well. And this year it also happens to be the beginning of Ganesh Chaturthi, a 10-day festival celebrating my favorite Hindu god (I have a collection of bronze Ganesha idols I’ve collected in India over the years).

This isn’t a big day for history. On August 25, 1609, Galileo demonstrated his first telescope to the officials of Venice. In 1916, the the United States National Park Service was created. And on this day in 1944, Paris was liberated by the Allies. This is the subject of one of Matthew Cobb’s several books: Eleven Days in August: The Liberation of Paris in 1944. It’s very good, and I recommend it.

Notables born on this day include the Nobel-winning biochemist Hans Adolf Krebs (1900), Pogo artist Walt Kelly (1913), Sean Connery (1930), and Gene Simmons of Kiss (1949; did you know he was born in Haifa, Israel and his real name is Chaim Witz? Truefact!). Those who died on this day include David Hume (1776), James Watt (1819), William Herschel (1822; Brian Cox has a cat named after him), Michael Faraday (1867), Friedrich Nietzsche (1900), Henri Becquerel (1908), Alfred Kinsey (1956), George Lincoln Rockwell (1967; I met him about 1965 when a friend and I plucked up our courage and visited the American Nazi Party headquarters in my hometown of Arlington, Virginia; he was assassinated two years later), Truman Capote (1984), Ted Kennedy (2009), and Neil Armstrong (2012).

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s dialogue is a bit enigmatic, and I asked Malgorzata to explain:

You see, when there was no internet, cats could come together for coffee, cigarettes and chat. They gossiped about their servants, about other cats; they had fun. Now each one is sitting in front of his/her computer and can only read gossip about celebrities.

The dialogue:

Hili: What did cats’ lives look like before internet?
A: They had more time for gossip.
In Polish:
​
Hili: Jak wyglądało życie kotów przed Internetem?
Ja: Miały więcej czasu na plotki.

Here’s a nice video tweet contributed by Matthew Cobb. Can you spot the kitties?

https://twitter.com/RonBaalke/status/900956481889026050

This timely anti-violence drawing, which I love, appeared on a friend’s Facebook page:

And just 39 more to go! 

17 thoughts on “Friday: Hili dialogue”

  1. Yes – a quote from Isaac Asimov that became his favourite saying –
    “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

  2. I always like Mark Twains Quote on Violence.
    “Always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the time has gone by for such things. Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined”

  4. I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to combine the banana split and the whiskey sour.

  5. This isn’t a big day for history. On August 25, 1609, Galileo demonstrated his first telescope to the officials of Venice. In 1916, the the United States National Park Service was created. And on this day in 1944, Paris was liberated by the Allies.

    What do you call a big day for history?!

  7. In honor of both Whiskey Sour Day and the anniversary of David Hume’s death I offer the following:

    David Hume could outconsume
    Schopenhauer and Hagel
    And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
    Who was just as schloshed as Schegel.

  8. My PhD advisor liked to tell the story of when she was at a party while a graduate student @ University College London. She asked someone, “Who ees dat old man who keeps looking at me?” “Oh, that’s Hans Krebs,” came the reply.

    And anything more about your encounter with Geo Lincoln Rockwell? (I read somewhere that his last interview was with someone from Wm&Mary, but was never able to find anything further on that.)

  9. Muffy,

    Is Hili JAC’s cat? Why Polish translations? Love the white cat on a leash – don’t know who’s the owner and didn’t know cats could be on a leash!

    What a world so integrated with humans and animals! xo >

    1. Hili is a daily feature and belongs to jac’s friends in Poland, Malgorzata and Andrzej

  10. Today is the day for THREE milestones of the Voyager spacecraft.

    Closest to Saturn: Aug 25, 1981
    Closest to Neptune: Aug 25, 1987
    Entered interstellar space: Aug 25, 2012

    It’s also the 99th birthday of Leonard Bernstein, and the SF symphony is kicking off a series of LB programs to continue throughout the year.

    My favorite Bernstein song is from the little-performed musical “Wonderful Town” (not to be confused with “On the Town”). The song’s name is “A Little Bit in Love”

    https://youtu.be/I2ZPldWZqqA

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